Atalanta dent Roma's Champions League hopes
A third-minute penalty by Francesco Totti failed to make the difference as depleted Roma's Champions League hopes suffered a blow in a 1-1 draw with Atalanta on Sunday. Roma knew a win would hoist them back up to second place after Lazio's 2-0 defeat at leaders Juventus on Saturday. But despite dominating throughout, Roma failed to break down a stubborn defence, Atalanta hanging on for a valuable point that left them seven points clear of the relegation zone. Along with city rivals Lazio, Roma are 15 points behind Juventus. Coach Rudi Garcia was furious at his side's failure to seize, at least temporarily, the league's second automatic Champions League qualifying spot. "Today, I can't be anything other than unhappy. We didn't play well at all, especially in the first half," said Garcia. "As soon as we scored the penalty, we went to sleep." Roma's players before the game drove past dozens of fans demonstrating against club president James Pallotta's decision to ban several "racist and violent supporters" from the stadium. To make matters worse, Garcia was also without Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas, both suspended, while Miralem Pjanic, Gervinho, Douglas Maicon, Kevin Strootman and Leandro Castan were all missing through injury. Totti was handed the chance to give the hosts an early lead when Adem Ljajic was fouled by Guglielmo Stendardo, who also handled the ball in the area, and the Roma captain stepped up to send goalkeeper Marco Sportiello the wrong way. But barely 20 minutes later, Atalanta were back on level terms, German Denis firing past Morgan De Sanctis from the spot after Davide Astori had tripped Dutch midfielder Urby Emanuelson. Roma were jeered off the pitch at half-time after missing several chances to restore their lead, and the fans' mood didn't improve after the break as Stendardo stopped Totti from reaching Alessandro Florenzi's low cross in front of goal before Radja Nainggolan's long range effort was charged down as Atalanta held on for a share of the spoils. - Precious point - Elsewhere, Fabio Quagliarella struck from the spot as Europa League-chasing Torino grabbed a precious point from a 1-1 draw away to Sassuolo, who opened the scoring through a Domenico Berardi penalty on the stroke of half-time. A Cesar Bostjan own goal secured a point for Udinese in a 1-1 away draw at Chievo, who had Sergio Pellissier's sliding back post effort to thank for their 39th minute opener. Algerian international Ishak Belfodil came off the bench to net a 73rd minute leveller as crisis-hit basement side Parma grabbed a point from a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Empoli, although Roberto Donadoni's men, docked a further four points in midweek for financial irregularities, look doomed to relegation. The only win of the day so far came at Palermo, where Argentinian sensation Paulo Dybala turned creator twice to set up Ivaylo Chochev for a brace of goals in a 2-1 win over Genoa. Dybala has been linked with a move to Juventus, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, with club president Mauro Zamparini declaring last week the 21-year-old would be "sold before the end of April". Palermo coach Giuseppe Iachini, meanwhile, said: "Paul's a young lad who has come on leaps and bounds this season. "He did great to set up the two goals... but the whole team played great, I can only congratulate them." Napoli, meanwhile, had no trouble closing the gap on Lazio and Roma to five points after Jose Callejon, an own goal from Antonio Balzano and a Manolo Gabbiadini strike secured a 3-0 win away to relegation-threatened Cagliari. Inter Milan host AC Milan in the city derby in Sunday's late game, while Fiorentina are in action on Monday when they host Verona in Florence.
